The
837th Air Division was activated at
Shaw Air Force Base on 9 February 1958 when the
432d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing was activated as
Tactical Air Command (TAC)'s second
tactical reconnaissance wing there. The 432d joined the
363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, which had been at Shaw since April 1951. The two wings were equipped with a variety of reconnaissance aircraft including both WB-66 and
RB-66 Destroyers,
Republic RF-84F Thunderflash aircraft and
McDonnell RF-101 Voodoos. Brigadier General Mack, the commander of the 363d Wing, became the first commander of the division. The
division's units performed visual,
photographic, electronic, and
weather reconnaissance. The 4411th Combat Crew Training Group was organized and assigned to the division on 8 April 1959 and began preparations to manage the advanced flying school. In June, the 432d Wing was inactivated and the 4411th Group assumed command of the school from the division. Before
President Kennedy announced the presence of Soviet
intermediate-range ballistic missiles in Cuba, the division and its 363d wing were notified of the high altitude reconnaissance missions by
Lockheed U-2 aircraft of
Strategic Air Command, which had indicated the construction of missile sites in Cuba, and began preparing target materials for possible low-level reconnaissance flights over the island. On 21 October 1962, the 363d Wing deployed RB-66s and RF-101s to
MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, along with photographic interpreters and equipment from its 363d Reconnaissance Technical Squadron. For three weeks, beginning on 26 October, the wing conducted an intensive low level reconnaissance campaign over Cuba to detect missiles and short range Soviet
Ilyushin Il-28 bombers. These sorties also provided the first evidence of a buildup of
air defenses in Cuba when it detected
SA-2 surface-to-air missiles. The division was inactivated in February 1963 The 4411th Combat Crew Training Group and the 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing were assigned to the new center. ==Lineage==